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So here I am, on my last day of my stay in Paris. My flight’s at 1 pm tomorrow, and I still haven’t packed at ALL. :S FML….like yesterday, I spent the whole day at the hospital doing surgery. Also said all my goodbyes to the nurses at the clinic, to the interns, the doctors I met, the OT nurses, the professor, secretaries. Delivered my Berko cupcakes to the clinic nurses which were well received. Took lots of photos, wanted to cry. Sigh…I hate goodbyes. I’LL BE BACK, PARIS AND HOPITAL SAINT-LOUIS!

After that, went to the Grands Magasins (again) to get more souvenirs (again). I finished off the macarons I bought which were supposed to be smuggled back to HK for my family and me…….whoops. So I bought more. And bought extra so I wouldn’t have to steal from the boxes. I wasn’t really in an eating mood (surprising, eh?) tonight as I was feeling so sad. 😦

Starbucks Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

So I got something from Starbucks. Cheesecake from Starbucks. What was I thinking?? Well…Berko was closed by the time I got back to the Beaubourg area, so I couldn’t end my trip with an amazing piece of Berko cheesecake. Yes, I was very, very sad. This Framboise-Chocolat Blanc Gâteau Fromage was so bad I didn’t even finish it. For one, the texture is all wrong. I think gelatin was used, which makes it a bit-jelly like. Not as bad as the Hong Kong style cheesecakes, but definitely not creamy like cheesecakes are supposed to be. Also, I couldn’t taste any white chocolate OR raspberry. Starbucks fail.

Ewe's Milk Chocolate Pudding

Also bought a bunch of stuff from the gourmet deli near my home, including this interesting pudding made of ewe’s milk (brebis). I was expecting a stronger, more gamey taste. Unfortunately, it only tasted like a very smooth chocolate pudding. It was the texture of warm ginger milk pudding…just at the border of liquid and solid. Actually, I think even HK style milk pudding has a stronger gamey taste than this.

Fromage Blanc Marron

This was something else I bought from the deli (yes I went crazy…it’s my last day after all). Chestnut flavoured fromage blanc isn’t something very common in HK, but I’ve seen it everywhere in Paris. Actually…getting this was a stupid idea…since it seems pretty easy to make myself. Good nonetheless. I’ve grown to really like fromage blanc…the texture is smoother than yogurt (which I find more watery), and the tartness isn’t overwhelming. It’s also usually made with skim milk!

Today, none of the other externs were at the hospital except for me. I later realized it’s Good Friday and perhaps they thought it was a public holiday? Helped out in another surgery again…breast reduction. I kept on violating sterile rules in the beginning and had to changing my gown and gloves several times…I felt so stupid 😦 and the OT nurse looked so impatient with me. But then most OT nurses are grumpy. Hmph. Nonetheless, I’m learning more and more. So sad it’s almost time to go home. After watching one and helping out with one surgery, I headed out as I wanted to do more exploring. I went to Sacre-Coeur, and it was filled with people waiting for Good Friday mass. Outside, on the steps, was a guy playing guitar with tons of people watching him sing classics like Hotel California, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, etc. A little lower, a guy was putting on a puppet show. Below all that, one can see a birds’ eye view of Paris. Montmarte is a really cool place…actually, so is a lot of other places in Paris. ARGH IM GONNA MISS THIS PLACE.

Basilique Sacre-Coeur

They changed their wrapping paper!

Rocher

Just before I got home, I was really craving chocolate, so I dropped into Boulangerie Beatrix and David again, which is downstairs and oh so convenient. I actually asked for Croquechoco, which looked like a version of the popular cake that Tony Wong makes. When I got home, I found out the salesgirl gave me a Rocher instead. Oh well, no worries, it’s still chocolate. The Rocher is basically a giant Ferrero Rocher. The whole thing is covered in real milk chocolate studded with salty nuts. For some reason, it didn’t taste like hazelnuts…it kind of tasted like peanuts. Need to double check tomorrow by going back to the boulangerie and looking at the sign.

Inside, from top to bottom are the noisette mousse, a thin layer of chocolate cake, chocolate hazelnut mousse, and then a croustillant layer. I could taste a little coffee in the noisette mousse…don’t know if it’s just my imagination as it’s coffee coloured. The biscuit provided a nice textural difference and separation between the 2 mousse layers.It seems like the French people really enjoy croustillant and hazelnuts, as it’s featured heavily in many stores pastries. This was satisfying. I mean, the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts is really hard to go wrong. Also, like their Paris Brest, the mousse is very light, while still satisfying due to its creaminess.

Aligot...so stretchy!

Earlier in the afternoon, after visiting Sacre-Coeur, I ended up at Champs Elysées just to have a walk. I visited a small shop called Aubrac Corner, which is a takeout store belonging to the restaurant Le Maison de L’Aubrac next door. Aubrac is a region in the South of France, and their specialty is aligot, a mashed potatoes, cheese, and butter concoction. I bought a box to have tonight. As I was too lazy to cook it on the stove, I just microwaved it, then mixed and mixed and mixed like the traditional way. It reminded me of natto, getting stickier and stretchier the more you mix. After having the mashed potatoes from Le Meurice, I’ve been spoiled; and this is a microwave version…still, it was interesting. Tasted like potatoes and cheese. The interesting thing is mostly the texture, which was super, uber, duper, stretchy and chewy. You can keep on twirling it around your fork. This is thanks to the addition of a special type of cheese called Tome cheese. Traditionally, aligot is served with wild boar sausage, but I don’t think I could finish a sausage with this rich dish. So instead, I also bought some cheese at Lafayette. As if cheese isn’t rich.

This week’s been boring at school. For some reason, most of the surgeries have been facial surgeries like lifting, eyelid surgeries, cancer excision. That means that if I scrub up, I’ll be pretty useless standing there…and probably being in the way as well. I miss last week, especially Thursday when I got to actually scrub up and help with the surgery. There was an abdominoplasty where it was just me, an intern, and an extern in the OT. I handed them instruments, did diathermy, handled all the equipment. The first time I actually felt useful in the OT. Hopefully next week (my last! :() will be more fruitful. Left early today to go to the Louvre…

Afterwards, I did another patisserie march. First stop was Carl Marletti again. Remember last time I had an AWESOME Belle Helene? This time was pretty awesome too.

Carl Marletti storefront

Carl Marletti: inside the store

This time I managed to get shots of the exterior and interior. Like I said, it’s very low-key and you’d miss it if you weren’t looking. It’s across the famous Saint Medard church and right next to a bright, shiny, Greek traiteur. Inconspicuous, but its pastries are not.

My haul...all the pretty bags

I then headed to the Grands Magasins to get some big name pastries. I had planned to get a Tarte Tatin from Laduree at Printemps, then an Opera at Dalloyau. Unfortunately, Laduree was out of Tarte Tatins, and I settled for something at Cafe Pouchkine, which is a Russian royal pastry cafe with a pop-up store at Printemps. By the way, Grands Magasins is paradise…shopping AND food paradise. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t live in Paris…or else I’d go bankrupt in a few months (or weeks)? SO first, an amuse-bouche…